Volunteering for three projects in Barrow has given people “enjoyment for life” and a renewed passion for their hometown.

They have been organised by Helping Hands, a two-year project that aims to break down the barriers to volunteering in Cumbria’s cultural sector.

It offers access to opportunities within arts and heritage organisations across Cumbria, and provides 1-2-1 mentoring, training and other support.

228 people had already signed up as volunteers since the scheme was launched, with 42 of those part of three projects now underway in the Barrow area: BarrowFull, Art Gene and Signal Film & Media.

Among them is Mark Curwen, a volunteer with BarrowFull, a creative arts project. He credits it with helping him get from his “lowest point” to having an “enjoyment for life” again and a passion for his hometown.

He said: “Genuinely, it makes me get up in the morning. I suffer really bad with depression to the point I did actually attempt suicide. So, obviously, at that point I was at my very lowest. 

“Volunteering has absolutely awoken a beast inside me, it really has. It’s given me the enjoyment of life, it’s given me a passion for my hometown.”

Hugh McGregor has been volunteering with Signal Film & Media and said his time with Helping Hands has helped not only with his self-confidence, but with making friends.

“I hope volunteering will bring me to be more independent, not relying too much on others, be more confident in myself and help me to get a proper job,” Hugh explained.

“Signal Film & Media has helped with my confidence, being a bit independent about learning new skills. It’s also helped me to make new friends.”

Helping Hands has been given £500,000 in Government funding so that it can give support to new volunteers and improve access to a wide variety of groups who have not traditionally been involved in volunteering.

Inclusive volunteer lead Verity Shillabeer said what’s unique about the organisation was that all the staff were there to help volunteers with personalised support and to find bespoke roles based on their interests.

She said: “Volunteering via Helping Hands, I think, is great for anyone who is a bit apprehensive to volunteer otherwise, because we provide that extra support. Whatever your barrier is, we have staff whose whole job is to help you.

“Helping Hands is different because we provide personalised support for all of our volunteers. That can include one-on-one meetings to get to know what their needs and interests are.”

Helping Hands not only provides training for staff, but also can access funds to cover any equipment and staff costs.

An example of this is shown by Eric (Rick) Matthews, a volunteer at Art Gene, who received not only support but new boots as well so he could take part in the outdoor work.

“They’ve given me a lot of support,” Rick said, “They’ve given me work boots which I wasn’t really expecting to get. I do a lot of weeding, that’s basically about it at the moment because I’ve got rheumatics in my knees.

“I’ve been volunteering here for about 10 weeks. It’s absolutely great. Everybody’s so friendly. We don’t care what background you’ve come from, you could come from any community.”

The Helping Hands project has more than 70 volunteering opportunities listed on its website which cover a wide range of roles including translation; grounds maintenance; tour guides; gallery attendants; projectionists and craft makers.

Funded by Arts Council England, Helping Hands is led by Cumbria Museum Partnership, and involves 45 Cumbrian partners. 

Additionally, Helping Hands will work with local organisations including Anti Racist Cumbria, Multicultural Cumbria, Cumbria Deaf Association and Triple A (Autism) Project to provide training and support for individuals.

For further information about Helping Hands visitwww.helpinghandscumbria.org